Quick Reads #14: Persecutions today

by James

The most recent list from Open Doors International (ODI) shows the persecution of Christians continues to rise, most notable in non-Christian countries. The country cited as the current worst offender is Nigeria, slightly ahead of Afghanistan and India. Iran is also mentioned but not Israel, where harassment of local Christian communities by more militant zealots is growing.

Of course none of this is new; Christians have been persecuted for their faith since the beginning; the first persecutors the Sanhedrin Jews. Yet since the Protestant Reformation, Christians have also managed to persecute each other over matters of doctrine and supremacy as the histories of the martyrs bear witness, Protestants and Catholics equally at fault. Fortunately those times are behind us though flare-ups still happen on occasion, and while abuse of the vulnerable continues, it is by no means restricted to Christianity.

A recent disturbing rise of victimization has recently been witnessed in Ukraine. In his address to the UNSC, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk detailed crimes against Orthodox Christians listing torture, arrests, public beatings, murder of priests, and of churches seized and destroyed; the tide of ultra-nationalism plaguing the former Soviet state reminiscent of the Bolshevik drive to erase all things Godly from an essentially Christian Russia. That the Russian Federation has largely reclaimed its Christian faith perhaps explains the attack on Russian Orthodoxy in Ukraine.

Though in terms of material destruction they are not alone; a 2021 report confirmed 45 churches of various denominations in Canada had been set on fire in recent years with 17 totally destroyed. Reports of church arsons are growing worldwide; communities devastated as in their distress, they pick up the pieces wondering why.

Now, it would be naïve to suggest Christianity is immune from worrisome agendas and dubious ideas. Church history clearly shows the influence of those who would derail the righteous through sleight of hand or overt force in their aim to destroy good values wherever Jesus is honoured. But there is more to this than meets the eye, and while people may be harmed, property damaged and the spirit tested, it is in reality an assault on what we believe.

We saw it in one form at the recent Satanist convention in Boston where pages were torn out of a Bible and trampled underfoot; a physical manifestation of hatred towards Christianity. However, the most insidious occurrence few people recognise is within the church itself. The persecution of the Gospel has been with us since the Apostle John wrote of antichrist; apparent in tenets, creeds and doctrines, opposed to the teachings of JESUS, and which stomp on the works of the Apostles and Prophets.

This persecution has no better example than the conversion of Saul … it happened as he drew near Damascus, even suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul why do you persecute me? (Act 9: 3-4) So, when the Word of God is assailed then Christ is assailed. When Christians are persecuted then Jesus is persecuted. Jesus said what you do unto mine you do unto me, His Word and His Church.

But there’s no getting away from the fact, it is becoming a trying time for everyone who honours JESUS and keeps His commands. For those who keep the Faith of Jesus, as we experience what many deem extraordinary times, it is not so much a testing but sorrowful, knowing that those who returned to the law could have so easily turned to a pure and simple faith.